May, 2011 – Double Trouble Bursts Sharks Bubble

Sharks vs Paddy’s and MAX. May 7th 2011By Kris Bayne & Richard Dixon

The cricket season finally got underway for the Sharks in the form of the 20/20 Japan Cup. We had a double-header in Sano, vs Paddy Foley’s and vs Max. It was a very different team than the last Sharks team to journey to Sano. With a number of players retired, injured, unavailable or on Japan national team duty in Botswana, we fielded no fewer than four players on Sharks outdoor debut – Dave Rear, Shafi Ullah, Keiichi Warabi and Koji Watanabe. We also welcomed back Sumon and Richard (who had finally dried out after the Chiba Cup deluge).

We were also joined by Mineyuki (a future Shark) and his wife Eri, Keiichi’s wife Maiko and Shafi’s kids.

Chiba Sharks VS Paddy Foley’s

With new captain, Pat, in Africa, Chris took up the reins again, promptly losing the toss (ya gotta admire his consistency). We were in the field (with a rather over-generous coverage of clover) under a cool overcast sky that hinted of rain. Large on the horizon (what we could see of it over the foliage) any time we play Paddy’s was Mr. Goldsmith, however Paddy’s also seemed to have had some personnel changes, with a number of Sri Lankan players in their line-up.

Bowling

Their opening pair was as new to us as we were to them, but they certainly soon introduced themselves. Our opening bowlers were Navin and Dave Rear (hereafter Dave R). Navin continued his development as a bowler getting some nice shape and being dreadfully unlucky not to get in the wickets. Dave R bowled with some menace despite the spongy pitch, crashing one into the face grill. Light rain started to fall almost as soon as a ball was bowled, and with an already dewy field the ball quickly became damp. The batsmen started to realise the best way was over the top of the very short boundaries and the runs started to flow. Anton replaced a very economical Navin and his deceptive little twobblers had the batsmen in two minds (making it 4). Anton’s latent animal cunningness was rewarded with a mistimed drive, which he gobbled up with unbridled glee – a great C & B for his first Shark wicket! 1-45.

To our surprise the incoming batsman was not Paddy’s ace, but another new player. The willow and the rain, however, soon started to come down with more intent. Kris, as umpire, departed to shut the car windows, soon to be followed by the field. The shower passed but left us very poor conditions for fielding and a match shortened to 17 overs. There was not much joy for us as the batsmen tee-ed off on the bowling attack hindered by a soggy pitch and wet ball. Wides were hurting us and suffice to say that there were catches that should have been taken. In the general ground fielding we did our best, with special mention to Dave R, Shafi and Koji, the latter taking the ball on a number of extremities.

Apart from a couple of overs, Paddy’s rattled along at 8-9 an over, and toward the end rarely a ball passed the bat. The final score was a rather mammoth 1-184 of 17 overs, with one opener reaching his century on the last swat of the innings.

O

M

R

W

N. Jinasena

2

0

12

0

D. Rear

2

0

25

0

A. Lloyd-Williams

4

0

35

1

S. Ullah

2

0

29

0

S. Haque

2

0

15

0

D. Lollback

3

0

39

0

K. Warabi

2

0

29

0

Batting

We had a mountain to climb, having to go at around 11 an over… Anshul and Keiichi opened up and really got us off to a solid start. Anshul played some absolutely brutal square cuts and Keiichi was very strong in the V, hitting with tremendous power. Some of us might remember Amila from YCAC, now a Paddy. As we were moving along nicely at 0-41 after 6 the fiery Sri Lankan turned the game on its pointy head with three wickets in his last over. First was Anshul off C&B for a feisty 20, next Sumon for 0 and then Keiichi (17) after a cracking 4. One might wonder what would have happened if we had seen off that over. Anyhow – we didn’t and we were 3-46 after 6 overs.

The new pair was Shafi and Navin. StatNav continued to grow in stature as he played his shots to all parts of the ground, and after Shafi (2) fell at 55, Chris and Nav put together a nice, entertaining partnership of 38. After a meaty 25 (off 13 balls of which 6 were dots) Chris holed out to a ridiculously good low catch in the deep with a wet ball. Dave L joined Navin and we settled down to watch the fun of those two running between wickets (yours truly having a front row seat). With Dave continuing Nav’s cricketing tuition, especially concerning calling, Dave totally blew Nav’s mind by calling “NOooo!” when Nav creamed one through cover – the look of the lad’s face was priceless. With Dave scooting along and Nav growing in confidence and timing we could dare to dream. Nav played possibly the shot of the match, effortlessly clipping it off his toes massively over backward square. Unfortunately it was not to be as Dave was caught for a solid quickfire 27 and Nav’s Queen Mary momentum saw him stumped (35) off the last ball. Anton remained not out, due in large part to not having faced a ball.

…

…

…

Runs

Balls

4’s

6’s

K. Warabi

c. Flew

b. Amila

17

22

3

0

A. Bahl

c&b

b. Amila

20

18

4

0

S. Haque

c. Chandana

b. Amila

0

2

0

0

S. Ullah

c. Thomas

b. Suleiman

2

7

0

0

N. Jinasena

st.

b. Joshi

35

24

5

1

C. Thurgate

c. Goldsmith

b. Suleiman

25

13

3

2

D. Lollback

c. Thomas

b. Joshi

27

16

4

1

A. Lloyd-Williams

not out

…

0

0

0

0

D. Rear

DNB

…

…

…

…

…

K. Watanabe

DNB

…

…

…

…

…

R. Dixon

DNB

…

…

…

…

…

…

…

…

…

…

…

…

Extras

…

nb0 w13 b0 lb4

…

…

…

…

Total

144

For 7

…

…

Overs 17

As a score, 144 off 17 overs, it was not bad. The arrears of 41 was the point. The middle order did their part, but 3 wickets in 6 balls does hurt. Chiba Sharks 7-144 off 17 overs.

Chiba Sharks VS MAX

With our collective pallet soiled by a mixture of defeat and rancid convenience store slop we stepped up to the plate for our second match against the all Japanese outfit Max. Famous for their gazelle like fielding exploits these chaps were a mélange of youth, exuberance and understatement, a deadly combination that would have the Sharks licking their wounded gills by the end of the day and wondering how this game slipped from their jaws.

Anshul and Keiichi opened and faced a good bowling attack. The ball swung more than London did in the sixties but the lads managed to get the score ticking over nicely. Yasuda from Max managed some good pace and length but Keiichi played a marvelous straight drive that found its way to the boundary. Anshul was looking very comfortable at the crease until he was bowled for 8. Keiichi was putting his Australian experience to good use and played some sweet shots until he lost his wicket for a fine 22.

Sumon and Dixon took over and unfortunately the run rate slowed a bit. The batsmen were apt to blame this on a bevy of wide deliveries but really, by their own admission, they played too defensively. Dixon, opened his arms up a bit and hit a rising delivery that was a 6 all the way….. to the fielder’s hands on the boundary. Gone for 1. Sumon also fell trying to smash a ball in a similar fashion for 10. Thank the good Lord that Shafi and Chris T were there next to move things along a bit. It was unclear as to whether Chris was aiming for the boundary or the Great Wall of China. He belted some fine boundaries avoiding the inconvenience of actually having to leave his crease and run. Shafi ably assisted him with some glorious stroke play. He was eventually run out for 19.

Navin was next to the crease opening his account with a splendid 6. He batted with a tenacious determination which included a nice glance to the boundary and numerous confident strokes. He lost his wicket on 21 with the score on 130. When Chris finally departed on 21 from just 10 balls it was up to Dave L and Anton to finish the innings. Hats off to Anton – bagel sized prostate and all – who sacrificed his wicket in a suicidal run out to try and move the score along. Sharks finished up on 134.

…

….

…

Runs

Balls

4’s

6’s

K. Warabi

…

b. Ota

22

19

3

0

A. Bahl

…

b. Yasuda

8

17

1

0

S. Haque

c. Asakura

b. Suda

10

17

1

0

R. Dixon

c. Kobayashi

b. Tsutsumi

1

14

0

0

S. Ullah

r.o. Yamada

…

19

23

2

0

C. Thurgate

c. Kobayashi

b. Suda

21

10

0

3

N. Jinasena

c. Okabe

b. Kobayashi

21

13

3

1

D. Lollback

not out

…

6

7

0

0

A. Lloyd-Williams

r.o. Ota

…

0

3

0

0

D. Rear

not out

…

0

0

0

0

K. Watanabe

DNB

…

…

…

…

…

…

…

…

…

…

…

…

Extras

…

nb1 w22 b1 lb2

…

…

…

..

Total

134

For 8

…

…

Overs 20

Navin and Dave Rear took the new ball for the Sharks. Dave found his ideal length and took 2 valuable wickets finishing up with 2 for 14. He also had the safest pair of hands with 3 glorious catches and was unlucky not to have another one which was disallowed because of a bowling infringement. Anshul’s leg-spin lived up to its legendary reputation. The plucky spinster took 2 fine wickets and had the batsman so contorted they must have thought they had fallen asleep and woken up in a game of Twister. Anton, Dave L. and Sumon also took a wicket each. Dave in particular bowled with some genuine pace and was unlucky not to have found the edge a couple of times.

As the wickets tumbled so did the Shark’s guard. A few catches went begging and bowlers lost their confidence. The real nemesis was their number 8 Yamada whose defense rivaled that of Stalingrad during the Great Siege. Each time he smashed a 4 his grin got bigger. As dusk settled on Sanno so did the ghastly realization of another loss. A boundary signaled the end for the Sharks.

…

O

M

R

W

N. Jinasena

4

0

26

0

D. Rear

3

0

14

2

A. Bahl

2

0

14

2

A. Lloyd-Williams

4

0

14

1

S. Haque

3.2

0

22

1

D. Lollback

2

0

10

1

K. Warabi

1

0

11

0

R. Dixon

1

0

13

0

Congratulations to Max who deserved their victory and special mention to Yamada who finished up on 43 not out. Well done there chap!! Two losses in two games brought the Sharks back down to earth with bump. The label of Champions means little in a new season but despite the results there were plently of positives to take from the games. Dave R’s bowling (and catching), Koji’s dynamic fielding and Keiichi’s cultured batting should stand us in good stead for the season to come.